Women are playing a vital role in the development of Pakistan. Earlier women took a very active part in the Pakistan movement like Fatima Jinnah, Begum Rana Liaquat Ali Khan, Begum Atiya Inayat Ullah, and many more. After Pakistan came into being, women did well in various fields like education, health, police, etc.
There are a number of women are actively participating in the defense of Pakistan by rendering their services to the Pakistan Army, Pakistan Air Force, and Pakistan Navy.
The brave women of Pakistan have been serving Pakistan’s Armed Forces since 1947, just after the country was founded.
In 1948, the first lady of Pakistan Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan took the lead in starting the women’s voluntary service to support the health and logistics for Pakistan Army and formed a women’s unit in the Pakistan Army Corps of Medical. In 1949, she established her own Pakistan Army Women National Guard.
The all-women unit’s chief controller was Begum Ra’ana herself with the honorary rank of brigadier. Later she served as the Governor of Sindh as well.
In and after the Pak-India war 1971, the Pakistan army felt the need for women to serve the country in an official capacity, Pak army formally allowed women to join the field of medicine and engineering.
In 2000, women were restricted from participating in active duty combat operations, although some women officers were deployed in hostile areas to support medical operations.
In 2002, the first women officer Shahida Malik was promoted to two-star rank as Major General. Later on, Shahida Badshah was also promoted to the rank of Major General.
Women were generally not trained at the Pakistan Military Academy, the first ‘Lady Cadet Course’ was introduced in 2006. Till 2020 a total of 16 ‘Women Cadet Course’ batches have been commissioned.
In 2004 Pakistan Army started to train women in active warfare but did not make them part of any fighting formations.
In 2013, 24 women officers of the Pakistan Army successfully completed a paratroopers’ course. Most women belonged to the medical or IT fields.
Lieutenant General Nigar Johar Khan is a three-star general in the Pakistan Army. Johar is the first and only woman in the history of the Pakistan Army to reach the rank of lieutenant-general, and the third to reach the rank of major-general. She belongs to the Pakistan Army Medical Corps and currently serves as the surgeon general of the Pakistan Army.
In 2019 the Pak Army started to increase the number of female officers working with UN missions abroad.
On January 31 last year, the first-ever Pakistani Female in the United Nations mission received UN medals for their services in the Peacekeeping Mission of Democratic Republic of Congo.
